The sense of short-termism within Scottish football is now unavoidable. Three-month contracts are far more common than those of the three-year variety. The potential salvation of a large transfer fee coming in for a star player is frequently offset by the fact the sought-after individual does not have a long enough deal for such a figure to be commanded.
Outside of Celtic – Rangers still have their fiscal burdens to bear – financial realities mean clubs can scarcely afford to think beyond a blunt, season-by-season basis.
Kilmarnock have battled hardships more than most. The Ayrshire club, blighted by an albeit complicated yet heavy debt situation, would have been staring into the abyss had they not avoided relegation from the Scottish Premier League on the final day of last season.
Their survival has prompted a fresh outlook, adopted by the new manager Mixu Paatelainen. A recruitment drive which has seen players picked from such diverse sources as the Glenn Hoddle Academy and Metalist Kharkiv continued yesterday with the arrival of Rui Miguel, a Portuguese striker who recently left CSKA Sofia. Up to five triallists have regularly featured in the club's early-season training.
Paatelainen inherited a squad with only 14 players left on contract when he was appointed in June. He has since rebuilt almost an entire team with a combination of loan and short-term deals, which is not something he makes any apology for.
"That's the way it has to be," he says. "We have entered the loan market on quite a few occasions, mainly because you get better quality players for cheaper.
"We can't go and splash out thousands, so we have to look carefully to bring in quality players. It's a good platform for a young player to come in and gain experience. It's top-flight football and the standard is quite good. Any English youngster, for example, will benefit, as will their club with a better, improved player at the end of it.
"I'm looking forward to doing it again next year. It's the perfect shop window. Managers, chief executives and chief scouts all understand that. It's a great learning curve. The tempo here is quicker than down south, so it can only be good for them.
"I've already made inquiries in areas of the world where their season is about to end, so there may be one or two players who will be available come January. Player recruitment never stops, so I never stop looking."
Paatelainen must be credited with making the most out of a tricky situation. His knowledge of world markets stems from a tour he undertook following his departure from Hibernian last May. "I travelled a lot last winter and made lots of contacts, like in Portugal," he says. "It's no coincidence I've brought in a couple of players from there. I was also in Bulgaria, where I saw Rui Miguel playing for CSKA Sofia.
"I went to Spain, Germany and various other countries. If you get a chance to talk to people and get to know others in the business you can always learn new things. I'd like to benefit from that and that knowledge can save me a lot of money. Contacts are everything."
A time-honoured yet entirely legitimate query surrounds how Miguel, Mohamadou Sissoko, David Silva and Alexei Eremenko will handle winter matches in Motherwell and Hamilton. Yet the early signs are positive for Paatelainen, with his hastily assembled side having recorded a fine 1-0 win at Aberdeen and lying mid-table after four games.
The Kilmarnock and Celtic teams who take the field tomorrow will be almost unrecognisable from those who featured the last time they played at Rugby Park on league business in February. Kilmarnock ruined Robbie Keane's Celtic debut with a 1-0 win that evening.
Paatelainen's overhaul pales into insignificance compared with the work done by Neil Lennon, who has gutted and rebuilt Celtic over the summer. And to no apparent domestic cost; Lennon's side are yet to concede a league goal.
"Neil has done the same thing as me and he's done a fantastic job because they've started the season so well and gelled quickly," Paatelainen says. "The new players fit in well to the way Celtic play.
"Hopefully they have an off-day on Sunday."